(Words and Music by Bob Dylan) (or James Damiano?)
1994 Special Rider Music
Released on Greatest Hits vol. 3 (1994) and on Unplugged (1995) in a live version.


Chords:

G11 = F/g =   303211
C/e           032010 or xx2010

Unplugged version

(the Greatest hits version is basically the same, but with a capo on the 3rd fret)

C
Fat man lookin in a blade of steel

Thin man lookin at his last meal
F                      C
Hollow man lookin in a cottonfield
             F/g  C
For dignity


Wise man lookin in a blade of grass
Young man lookin in the shadows that pass
Poor man lookin through painted glass
For dignity

G
Somebody got murdered on New Years Eve
F                             C
Somebody said dignity was the first to leave
       F                   C/e
I went into the city, went into the town
              Dm                   F/g
Went into the land of the midnight sun

Searchin high, searchin low
Searchin everywhere I know
Askin the cops wherever I go
Have you seen dignity?

Blind man breakin out of a trance
Puts both his hands in the pockets of chance
Hopin' to find one circumstance
Of dignity

I went to the wedding of Mary-Lou
She said I dont want nobody see me talkin to you
Said she could get killed if she told me what she knew
About dignity

I went down where the vultures feed
I would've gone deeper, but there wasnt any need
Heard the tongues of angels and the tongues of men
Wasnt any difference to me

Chilly wind sharp as a razor blade
House on fire, debts unpaid
Gonna stand at the window, gonna ask the maid
Have you seen dignity?

Drinkin' man listens to the voice he hears
In a crowded room full of covered up mirrors
Lookin into the lost forgotten years
For dignity

Met Prince Phillip at the home of the blues
Said hed give me information if his name wasn't used
He wanted money up front, said he was abused
By dignity

Footprints runnin cross the silver sand
Steps goin down into tattoo land
I met the sons of darkness and the sons of light
In the bordertowns of despair

Got no place to fade, got no coat
I'm on the rollin river in a jerkin boat
Tryin' to read a note somebody wrote
About dignity

Sick man lookin' for the doctors cure
Lookin' at his hands for the lines that were
And into every masterpiece of literature
For dignity

Englishman stranded in the blackheart wind
Combin' his hair back, his future looks thin
Bites the bullet and he looks within
For dignity

Someone showed me a picture and I just laughed
Dignity never been photographed
I went into the red, went into the black
Into the valley of dry bone dreams

So many roads, so much at stake
So many dead ends, I'm at the edge of the lake
Sometimes I wonder what its gonna take
To find dignity

Tell Tale Signs version \#1

Piano tune, black keys, C# or Db major, easily accomplished with a capo on the first fret.

C                     G11      C
Fat man lookin in the shining steel
C                  F        C
Thin man lookin at his last meal
F                      C
Hollow man lookin in a cottonfield
            G11  C
For dignity

Wise man lookin in a blade of grass
Young man lookin in the shadows that pass
Poor man lookin through painted glass
For dignity

G
Somebody got murdered on New Years Eve
    F                         C
Somebody said dignity was the last to leave
       F                    C/e
I went into the cities, went into the towns
                 (/d /c)    G
to the land of the midnight sun

Searchin high, searchin low
Searchin everywhere I know
Askin the cops wherever I go
Have you seen dignity?

Blind man breakin out of a trance
Puts both his hands in the pockets of chance
Hopin' to find one circumstance
Of dignity

Stranger stares down into the light
From a platinum window in the Mexican night
Searching every bloodsucking thing inside
for dignity

I went down where the vultures feed
I would've gone deeper, but there wasnt any need
Heard the tongues of angels and the tongues of men
It all sounded no different to me

Soul of a nation is under the knife
Death is standing in the doorway of life,
In the next room a man fighting with his wife
over Dignity.

Tell Tale Signs version \#2

Lyrics transcribed by Craig Thomas

Fat man lookin at a ferris wheel
Yellow man lookin' at his last meal
Hollow man lookin' in a cottonfield
For dignity

Wise man lookin in a blade of grass
Young man lookin in the days that pass
Poor man lookin through painted glass
For dignity

Dignity is a woman that knows
Dignity moves like a tropical wind that blows
into the cities, into the towns
into the land of the midnight sun

I'm searchin high, I'm searchin low
Searchin everywhere I know
Askin the cops wherever I go
Have you seen dignity?

Drunk man listens to a voice he hears
in a crowded room, full of covered-up mirrors
looking to the lost forgotten years
for dignity

Don Juan was talking to Don Miguel
Standin' outside the gates of Hell
There ain't nothing to say, there ain't nothing to tell
'bout dignity

Dignity is a woman unspoiled
By fame and greed and snakes that are coiled
In the damp woods, on the river's edge
Near the green, green grass of home

Pull into the platform, step off the train
Walk thirty steps, it begins to rain
I'm asking somebody with water on his brain
Have you seen dignity?

Cities in a mess of jackhammer beats
Buses roll by with burned-out seats
A child's eyes look through the creeping streets
For dignity

Prince Phillip was talking to Miss Mary Lou
She said don't let nobody see me talking to you
She's afraid to tell him what she knew
About dignity

Dignity is a woman that's light
She don't tease, she don't travel at night
Dignity is a woman that bleeds
Like the hot Egyptian sun

I'm looking east, looking west
See people cursed, see people blessed
Asking everybody like a man possessed
Have you seen dignity?

Blind man breaking out of a trance
Puts both of his hands in the pockets of chance
Hoping to find one circumstance
Of dignity

Englishman stranded in the blackheart wind
Combing his hair back, his future looks thin
Bites the bullet and he looks within
For dignity

Somebody showed me a picture and I just laughed
Dignity never been photographed
Dignity got no starting-point
No beginning, no middle, no end

Looking at a glass that's half-filled
Looking at a dream that's just been killed
Asking everybody that's strong-willed
Have you seen dignity?